Idol Elimination Recap: Durbin Out! Reinhart In!

Not that it wasn't deserved, but who on Earth thought Durbin would be the one packing his bags? Holy shit!

I'm still proud of my predictions yesterday. Everybody, but everybody thought Haley was a goner. But I knew she wasn't. Every week, her fan base has grown in both size and conviction, and barring either an unprecedentedly awesome performance from Lauren Alaina next week or an absolutely wretched one from Haley or Scotty, it's gonna be a Haley-versus-Scotty finale, and Haley's gonna walk away with the entire noncountry vote as well as the title. Which is pretty freaking cool.

Man, last night's episode was intense. It tossed together everything one loves and loathes about Idol and achieved something like apotheosis. The omnipresence of Ford advertising, the horribleness of the finalists' ensemble singing, a few genuinely decent live performances, drama, suspense, and the sheer fame-craziness of a few decent kids who just wanna sing to you for the rest of their lives.

Quick performance breakdown:

The show began with James and Scotty undersinging "Start a Band." These voices don't belong together. Lauren and Haley showed them up with a scorching version of "Gunpowder and Lead,"

which featured Haley performing her first not-at-all-awkward dance

move. (And it was sexy!) We saw a video of Lady Gaga performing "You and I"